Governor pays year-end visit; keynotes annual ETEC event

“Where we are matters a lot,” Gov. Bill Haslam stated during a recent end-of-year visit to The Secret City.

by Darrell Richardson

“Where we are matters a lot,” Gov. Bill Haslam stated during a recent end-of-year visit to The Secret City.

Keynoting the East Tennessee Economic Council’s annual meeting at the DoubleTree by Hilton, the governor shared what he’s learned about bringing jobs to the Volunteer State.

“We have an incredible location in Tennessee,” said Haslam, adding that there is “predictability” in Tennessee and it’s a “comfortable place to invest in.”

“We do stuff like pay for our roads as we build them,” stated the governor, who also touted a low tax rate, low debt “and a work environment people are attracted to.”

Using “the Greater Oak Ridge Area” as an example, Haslam said Tennessee is a place where people want to live. He recalled asking someone he’d recently talked to, “How do you like living here?”

The answer: “I LOVE living here! My wife found a place where she wanted to live.”

Quality of life matters, the governor reasons. And he also said Tennessee has some “really unique assets” to sell, such as the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility in Oak Ridge, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and TVA.

“When you go to sell TVA — and the whole energy cost piece of that — I don’t feel I have to back up and apologize,” Haslam assured the crowd of 275 or so ETEC luncheon attendees.

It was at this point that the governor switched gears, in a sense, to discuss his “Drive to 55” effort to boost the number of Tennesseans with post-secondary educations from 32 percent to 55 percent by Year 2025.

“The plants today are highly technical,” Haslam told the Oak Ridge crowd. “There are fewer workers, but they are more highly trained.

“We’re only at 32 percent now, so we’re going to have to reach a lot of adults. It’s not about funding,” the governor said, “it’s about changing the culture.”

And if Tennessee doesn’t adapt?

“It still may work out for a portion,” he said, “but not as large a portion in the future. … What’s needed to compete and win is different than it was before.”

Reporter Ed Marcum said the governor’s speech urged ETEC members to become “evangelists” for helping Tennessee close the education gap between the Volunteer State’s workforce and those in the rest of our country.

“The STEM disciplines that so many of you are a part of in this room, that’s not overhyped. That’s where the demand is,” Haslam stated, referring to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

The governor addressed the Oak Ridge group after visiting Knoxville to announce the awarding of more than $1.8 million in grants to fund equipment at Pellissippi State Community College and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Knoxville (formerly known as the Tennessee Technology Center at Knoxville). Part of the “Drive to 55” initiative, Pellissippi State will receive $1.4 million and TCAT-Knoxville will receive $450,000 with the grants funding two programs at each school.

“I need you to continue to be leaders and define the new reality,” Haslam told the ETEC assembly. “The hard steps we’re taking really are paying off.

“It’s not an easy process, but those kids in school now don’t have time to wait. We have to work hard to close that gap.

“You really do make a difference. Working across the region really does make a difference,” the governor said.